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Samsung Galaxy S8's Bixby AI could beat Google Assistant on this front

The S8's widely expected voice assistant could launch in up to eight languages, according to one report.

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2 min read

My AI is smarter than your AI.

That's the taunt that Samsung Galaxy S8 owners may be able to lob at Google Pixel users if the S8's rumored Bixby Assistant launches with seven or eight languages, as reported by SamMobile.

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Samsung's Bixby AI will go after Google Assistant, Apple's Siri and Amazon Alexa for phones

CNET

In the Google Pixel, Assistant currently supports two languages, according to Google's website: English and German. The Google Allo app, which also uses Google Assistant and works on more phones , supports five languages: English, German, Hindi, Japanese and Portuguese. (You can still use Google's voice search/Google Now with many more languages on the Pixel phones, but the Google Assistant launch gesture turns off when you switch your primary language to, say, Spanish.)

Launching its own smart AI assistant is an important move for Samsung and its future Galaxy and Note phones. The company, which strives to dominate the smartphone world against Apple 's iPhone , stands to win fans if its Bixby assistant can outperform Google's Assistant, Apple's Siri and Amazon 's Alexa, which will land on its first phone later this month.

This isn't the first time that Samsung has tried to out-Google Google either. The company hoped to supplant Google's voice search tool with Samsung's branded S Voice app, and introduced other software services of its own. The company has largely pulled back on preloaded apps and shuttered some of the services, so it'll be interesting to see how well Bixby AI will be able to compete with more established assistants, especially in these early days of AI on phones.

Watch this: Samsung's 'Bixby' assistant may have its own button on Galaxy S8

Bixby is rumored to:

  • Handle payments
  • Control native apps
  • Identify object and text through the camera app
  • Feature its own launch button

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to launch March 29 and sell in mid-April.

Samsung did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.